I'm sure that a lot of you are familiar with the Archie Comics. It's one of long running syndicates strips in the United States and has reached the far corners of the world. I grew up reading classic Archie and the gang thanks to my tita's collection which she had since the 1970s. Each character is known to me, much as one would know a neighbor or a classmate at school.

My friend Ryan, a fellow toy collector and comic enthusiast, shared this link today that shocked me to the core. Riverdale High's long-time teacher Miss Geraldine Grundy gets cancer. That's not the worst of it. She never successfully battles it and she subsequently passes away.

This storyline will be featured in "Life With Archie" Issue #6. This shows how reality is creeping into the fictional and somewhat perfect world of Archie Andrews.

It makes me sad. It's like losing an old friend. I remember numerous storylines where the gang would try to bring her together with The Bee. Or how the girls once gave her a make-over to help her get a date. It's those little things that bring her close to you even though you know her character exists in between those sheets of paper. While I probably won't read this comic (I don't know if I will be able to get one), just knowing how it goes makes me really sad.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas today revealed the new designs of the Phillipne Peso bills. According to BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., these designs took three years to conceptualize and print. One the whole, a lot of the bills' designs are the same, but some elements were changed and added.

P20 bill
Obverse: Manuel L. Quezon
Reverse: Banaue Rice Terraces and a palm civet from the Cordilleras, which are famous for producing the coffee alamid.

P50 bill
Obverse: Sergio Osmeña
Reverse: Taal Lake and the Giant Trevally (locally known as Maliputo), a delicious milky fish which thrives only in the waters of the lake.

P100 bill
Obverse: Manuel A. Roxas
Reverse: Mayon Volcano and “butanding” or whale shark, the world’s largest living fish which is the main attraction of Donsol, Sorsogon.

P500 bill
Obverse: Corazon Aquino and Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. (Tetangco said the addition of Mrs. Aquino was decided after she passed away in August 2009 and before her son announced his candidacy for president)
Reverse: Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and the blue-naped parrot, which thrives in the forests of Palawan and Mindoro.

P1,000 bill
Obverse: Josefa Llanes Escoda, Vicente P. Lim, and Jose Abad Santos
Reverse: Tubbataha Reef Marine Park and the South Sea Pearl, which is produced by oysters that thrive in the South Seas which the Sulu Sea is a part of.

Fe Dela Cruz, director of the BSP’s corporate affairs office said that the images of the national figures have been changed to reflect their younger selves, as they served the country during their prime.

The banknotes have new security features to help prevent them from being copied. These features increase as the value of the note goes higher. They include: embossed prints, serial numbers, security fibers, watermarks, security thread, optically variable device, optically variable ink, and a see-through mark.

This see-through mark is the word "Filipino" and is written based on the pre-Hispanic Philippine writing system called "Baybayin".

While I believe a person can never have enough books about the topic they love, I was a bit hesitant to buy this. The clincher? Cliff Wright illustrated two UK versions of the Harry Potter books. Shallow reason, yes. But as I skimmed through the book, I realized that it has a lot of great information that I can use.

It's a secondhand book, so the price was good. I look forward to really read this book. It was published in 2008.

For the NBA season this year, Marvel and ESPN teams up to give each NBA team their own comic book style cover. Basketball fans will enjoy seeing their sports idols depicted as super heroes (which they are, I suppose, in a way), but what about the comic book fans who aren't that into basketball?

They still may want to take a look, as these covers --- a total of thirty for the two conferences (15 for the Eastern conference, 15 for the Western conference) --- were created by well known comic book artists including J. Scott Campbell, Olivier Coipel, Terry Dodson, Leinil Francis Yu, John Romita Sr., Kaare Andrews, and Marvel Editor-In-Chief, Joe Quesada.

I'm especially excited for two names: J. Scott Campbell, who made the awesome and sexy Fairy Tale Fantasies; and Leinil Francis Yu, a Filipino comic book artist who has been with Marvel for quite some time now.

It's interesting to look at the covers, and figuring out the story behind it. Some are similar to previous comic covers (like the one with LeBron mocking a 1967 Spiderman cover) or an artist's take on the teams they're illustrating.

Here's a few of covers. The rest can be found at the ESPN site. You can also look at the sketches gallery. All images belong to Marvel, NBA and their respective artists.

My first exposure to Charles Vess was through his collaboration with Neil Gaiman for "Stardust." Vess' work there particularly reminded me of the old fairytale books I read as a child*. Maybe because Stardust is a fairytale for adults, or maybe the period the story is set in. Aesthetically, his character's features are not my type, but I love the attention he gives to details, the color he uses and how each artwork evokes emotion.

Dark Horse Books has released "Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess," an compliation of Vess' works over the years. The beautiful illustrations are accompanied by comment from Charles Vess himself, describing his adventures as a painter, sculptor and publisher.

Aside from Neil Gaiman, Charles Vess has worked with writers like Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) and George R.R. Martin. He is the recepient of such awards like The Will Eisner Comics Industry Award, World Fantasy Award, and Spectrum Annual Award.

*In the foreword, author Susanna Clarke mentions that there is something "unsettingly familiar" with Vess' works, and goes on to mention names of Edwardinian story-book illustrators like Authur Rackham, Charles Robinson and Kay Nielsen. I didn't recognize the names at first, but when I saw their work, I knew what Clarke was talking about. Those were the artists whose works I saw many years ago.

We Love Patterns and Funkrush have teamed up for an exclusive contest for Drawn! readers. Three (3) pattern ideas and/or themes will be picked and each winner will receive an "We Love Patterns" squirrel t-shirt.

About We Love Patterns
Gastón Caba, Silvana Marino and Lara Caba created the family company We Love Patterns in 2010. The company is passionate in creating a growing collection of "extra-cute, colorful and optimistic pattern artworks" to add charm and whimsy to all kinds of products.

The company offers a different style of patterns from the standard ones often seen in the market. Each one has the ability to tell a story, or view a giant concept from the tiny objects and words.

Artists that have their original designs on We Love Patterns include Bubi Au Yeung, Dana Zimmerling & Mr. TobyHK, and every month, the company selects more artists to add to their catalogue.

I was fortunate to be able to attend the opening of "K+kkk+K Ayos! Order in Chaos," the first exhibit of the De Guia family: filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik and his wife, artist Katrin de Guia and their sons Kidlat Jr., Kawayan and Kabunyan.

The exhibit is at Rico Renzo Galleries and Caffe (N. Garcia formerly Reposo St., Makati City) and will run until January 5, 2010. It features bone sculptures from Katrin, photographs from Kidlat Jr., ceramic mosaics from Kabunyan, collages by Kawayan and various woven sculptures from Kidlat Tahimik.

Feeling odd today, but weirdly enough, I did quite a few things that made me feel a bit accomplished. :)

- Upped my Nanowrimo work to 6131 words. Some may say I should be way beyond the 15k mark by now, but given how lazy I am and how uninspired I am to write, that's an accomplishment. For some reason, even though I want to write, the idea of writing just for the number of words makes me want to not write. But this is good, even though the story is mostly made up of snippets and that I'm veering away from the supposed main characters.

- Painted on my bookshelf. I was just imagining what it would like to paint on my bookshelf until the urge got so strong that I just did.

Sketches

Base. I made a mistake and wet my brush, thus the thin layer

Black & white

Think.

At first I was irritated at the wobbly lines, but then I realized it looked great that way, smudges and all. With my leftover black paint, I dabbled on other parts of the bookshelf. Nothing much though. Sorry the pictures are blurry. :p